The Event Videos Are Finally Here!

Dear All,

The Fab50 event videos are finally here!

There are three videos in all.

Note that Vid 1 and Vid 2 share the same start-screens, so do not be alarmed; they are indeed different videos.

Pls click on the links below to view. Enjoy!

Video 1: Click here.

Video 2: Click here.

Video 3: Click here.

Thank you once again for your enthusiastic support. Your mere presence made a whole lot of difference!

Best regards,

TC
- on behalf of the organising and post-organising committee (one and the same, haha)
10 Nov 2013

The Event Photos Are Finally Here!

Dear all,

Event photos have been uploaded to Flickr. Please view at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98943746@N05/

On behalf of the organising committee, I want to thank you very much for your attendance.

Your being there certainly has rolled back the years and made it extra special.

We wish also to thank the teachers for taking the trouble to attend. We know at their age, the inclination is to rest at home (haha, we will get there one day if not already! :-)

Once again, thank you for making it such a memorable event. It was probably more special for those who have to suck on a bottle again (that's like an almost 50yrs ago event! Yes, time flies!).

Now that you have reconnected, do stay connected. And stay well.

As always, live long and prosper.

Your fellow Assumptionite, 

TC

Event Photos

Here's the group photo for the night's event.

Be patient, we just gotten back the photo disc from the official photographer.

This is not the only group photo but one where everybody is looking at the camera.

I will upload more photos this weekend.

The event was a success as many got to meet each other for the first time after an interval of 38 yrs or more. More than 70 turned up including three teachers. Mrs De Vaz, Mr Ang Leng Sze, and Mr William Choong. (Mr Wilfred James had a last minute emergency flight out of Singapore, and a couple of teachers were not feeling well. We hope it is nothing serious and wish them a speedy recovery.) 

What a wonderful meeting of old friends that night! And the game played was hilarious. The night ended with the lucky draw and a closing prayer from our very own priest, Father Yeo Teck Seng.

Afterwards, about 20 of us adjourned to an upstairs outdoor bar and had beer and talked some more until past 1 am. 

Here's a complimentary message from one attendee:

"To the organising committee (the mighty 10!); 

- Craig Teo

- Lai Tuck Chong

- Andrew Seet

- Nancy Ng

- Mary Goh

- Ben Woon

- Steven Tan

- Say Kok Chue

- Yong Chee Kong

- Henry Ng

I am writing just to say a massive 'THANK YOU' for the massive 'WORK' resulting in our Fabulous 50 Reunion.  Thank you to each of you for your generosity; your invaluable time to make this a reality for all.  Just watching the reunion souvenir CD makes me guilty of all the work that you have all "ploughed" through if I do not make an effort to write this note.

Over 30 years since we parted and upon Tuck Chong's invitation, I was apprehensive not knowing what to expect and who I will connect with but I am so glad that I attended.  It was a wonderful opportunity to meet at this half a century point.  An intersection to what TC described in his blog: Friends of old, friends of now, friends of the future.  Reconnecting with all missing gems in our lives, recapture those youthful moments and secure new friendships!  I fully understood.

Not only was the night special but the renewed friendships have blossomed through your kindness.  It was such great fun seeing so many "old" faces at the same venue, a lovely atmosphere, I wish I could have stayed longer but that short weekend was more than I could ask for!  Thanks again."

Just a Week More!

Seven days more to go!

Are you all excited yet?

To date, we have sent invites to over 107 former classmates! That's more than 90% of all who had come together in 1976 to start a new chapter in Assumption English, that is, begin Secondary One.

Leaving behind our childish ways in primary school to begin a life anew as teenagers.

Finding all those missing souls has not been easy.

But thanks to an expanded Organising Committee, more missing persons were hunted down and an invite sent.

So, we will get to meet friends we have made in Sec 1, 2, 3 and 4, and more.

Friends who had gone in and out of our lives over those intervening years.
Maybe left school, gone on to the VI.

Friends we remember, sort of forgotten, were perhaps BFFs but since drifted apart.

Friends that we have now tried our darnest to reunite.

So I hope you are as excited as I am to reconnect with all these missing gems in our lives. So as to renew old acquaintances, recapture those youthful moments, and secure new friendships!

Friends of old, friends of now, friends of the future.

That is something I can salute to!

See you all next Saturday evening on the 22nd of June at the lovely The Chevrons!

Yours truly,

Tuck Chong
16-6-2013
on behalf of the Fab50 Reunion OrgCom
>Directions to The Chevrons can be found here: The Chevrons Getting There

Looking for Our Classmates

Nancy and I (me here striking a Moses' pose and looking rather silly-happy) recently made our way to AES  - currently located at the temporary premises of the former New Town Secondary in Commonwealth Avenue - to take a look at the old Master Class Register Books. They are huge accounts-like books that hold the name of students and their personal particulars. Each year, they record who has joined the AES cohort. If you had joined AES in 1976 as a Sec 1 student, your name would be there, as would your sibling if she/he had joined at Sec 2, 3, or 4. One book each for the boys and girls. The records in the books were dated till the years 1985/87.

I must say seeing my name there and all the other classmates' brought back memories of my first day in AES: 2nd Jan 1976. Such an innocent and carefree time it was before the exams, the stress of school life began. There were the names of classmates that I grew familiar with over the years, and before they each left for one reason or other. I did miss them then because as a prefect (on duty) I had more chances to interact with the students in school than most. AES then was a much smaller and cozier school. We were single session before many adopted the same practice.

Now, the population of AES is three times that.

Here are some concept pictures of how the new AES building will look like (yes, the 'relatively-new' AES Version 2 is being torn down for MOE's PERI upgrading). The front buildings will be rebuilt but the back classrooms will be retained (those next to the church).

Through the register books, Nancy and I discovered that some 36 girls and 81 boys joined AES in Sec 1 in 1976. Before, we could never count the cohort numbers properly because we never had proper class photos taken. Hence even the names of our cohort could not be recounted in some formal way. It was only in Sec 2 that proper class-portrait style photos were taken. But by then, some had left. Some of the students' reasons for leaving AES were recorded; some not, just a blank.

Some long lost names from the Boys' register:
- Toh Mok Sar, Chong Nyuk Chuan, Kow Chee Chong, Razali B Basiron, Tee Ong Bee;

From the Girls' register:

- Goh Siew Lin, Ng Swee Ngoh, Tee Bee Lian, Janet Woodman.

The addresses in the register books also brought back memories of the places classmates had stayed at: Chestnut Drive, Mandai Road, Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Panjang, Woodlands Road, Jalan Lengkok Saga, etc. These places have all been demolished, changed.

If I did not go to AES, I don't think I would have heard of or seen these places first hand. And it was always a joy and an eye-opener when visiting my classmates in their homes. Ming Yew in Jalan Gali Batu, Cedric in Jalan Lengkok Saga, Chris Fong/Alan Oliveiro along Woodlands Road, Anthony Lee/Henry Ng in Mandai Road, Boon Hong just outside Hillview, Maria in Hillview, Ignatius/Greg at Chestnut Drive, ... And of course, all those folks who stayed in Marsiling. There were quite a number of AESians who stayed there (an estate carved out of vegetable and pig farms) many no doubt relocated from elsewhere like me (I grew up in Jalan Sayang (Changi), Geylang and Rangoon Road).

And we boys had a blast playing in the Marsiling/Woodlands areas, especially one infamous jetty. Innocent times, carefree times? Fun times! New place, new friends. What more can an active teenager ask for back in 1976!!!

Chee Kong, Ahmad Zaidi, Rosli, Cedric at the Marsiling 'Ruthenia Oiling  Jetty' - our fave spot for fishing, crabbing, and swimming.

Fabulous 50 Reunion

CALLING ONE AND ALL!!!

Ok, give or take 1 or 2 years.

We all came bushy-eyed to Assumption English School - some studying with the opposite sex for the first time - and now, we are 'lau jiao' (old bird) at 50. As the saying goes, 'Time sure flies!' I don't know about you, but I do not feel 50 at all. Ok, so I fart a little more carelessly now, squint a little more funnily now, dye my hair a little more zealously now, but hey, other than that, it's still "same-old, same old". Ok, ok, so I had bits of me overhauled now and then, but which supercar doesn't need some body work done, eh? The important thing is, this supercar IS still running!

But it has seen some mileage.

It is now 50.

So, before this old car runs out of gas, it would like to go on one last ride with the folks he has grown up with. Folks, who, for better or worse, made life at Assumption English School 'interesting'.

The school life we had at Boys' Town was indeed one-of-a-kind. The small community, the keeness in sports, frequent fundraising, at-times hell-raising, the church mass, Founder's Day, uniform groups, St John Island Camp, annual cross-country, striptease shows in Thailand etc., etc., all add up to an education money cannot buy. And lots of us couldn't afford it, actually. A kampong life, a kampong school. An (atas?) foreigner's school for our mates from JB and Indonesia? Haha, so, AES wasn't so kampong after all!

To celebrate turning 50, we are going to hold a mass orgy. Oops, no, I mean a mass celebration (but I am told there are rooms upstairs of the function hall, with fancy names like  - Making Love Out of Nothing At All, One Night In Chevron, Love Conquers All, Good Morning Yesterday, and What? Pistorius-Shot-His-Hot-Girlfriend?, etc).

Ok, details:

The place has been booked, the date has been set. (So don't play us out!)

Place: The Chevrons (somewhere near Jurong East)
Website: Got Pictures
Getting there: Blur Sotong

Date: Saturday 22 June 2013
Time: 6 pm (cocktail)

Ticket price: $68++ (Int'l halal meal, wine, honored guests (teachers), gifts, etc)
Spouse: Leave behind at in-laws or send on a cruise-to-nowhere (Haha...just kidding. By all means, bring your better, misbehaving half!)

Attire: Costume
Simple one lah. No Friday the 13th blood and gore. Just come in white and blue (AES colors), white socks and canvas shoes. :-) Easily done right? Remember: BATA before school. Or Fung Keong. (Ok, anybody remembers Fung Keong shoes? ;-)

(For those of you no longer 'miao tiao' (shapely), relax: costume is optional. Heck, yr presence is more important! But those of you want a bit of fun, come in costume. I think there's a prize for most hairy legs, busting gut, etc.)

Ok, enough of the nonsense and let the fun begin. Do spread the word and get as many from our batch as possible to attend. As Chief Function Instigator '100%-Single' Gregory "Craig" Teo said: "If not this 50, then the next 50?" Good luck on that one!

In any case, what is worse than growing old? Growing old alone. So, start reconnecting!

Yours truly,

TC Lai
Former Assistant Head Prefect (morning Mari Kita)
Blue Water Bottle Boy (told to avoid soft drinks)
NPCC NCO (couldn't afford Scout uniform)
School Badminton Player (one true love)
and failed Rojak Seller at school hall fund-raiser (more interested in the girl than making a profit)

HP: 92379773
Gmail: monaco.lai@gmail.com (Any Comment from this blog will reach me.)

On behalf of Organising Committee. (Greg/Craig Teo, Nancy Ng, Mary Goh, Andrew Seet, Woon Wai Peng (Ben), Tan Chong Kiat (Steven), Say Kok Chue (Handsome), and yours truly, Tuck Chong).

See tabs above for further info on Invite Lists, Payment matters, etc.

(Pics below: To see, click on them. Then right-click and select "Open image in new tab" to see in full resolution. For more class pics, check "More Sch Pics" tab above!)